Folding lunch or other box.



Patented Nov. 6. l900.

No. 66|,l2-l

J. J. & E. F. WHITE. FOLDING LUNCH l[1R OTHER BOX.

(Application led Mar. 6, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNiTnn STATES PATnNT OFFICE.

JOHN J. 7l-UTE AND EDMUND F. WHITE, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOLDING LU'NCH OR OTHER BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 661,162, dated November 6, 1900. Application filed March 6, 1900. VSerial No. 7,486. (No model.)

To fr/ZZ rfv-71.0717, 'it Hefty concern/.-

chusetts, have invented certain new and usev ful Improvements in Folding Lunch or other Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in folding lunch or other boxes, and has for its objects to simplify and cheapen the construction of the box and to insure when the same is in its open position the retention thereof in such position without liability of its becoming collapsed or of having positions of any of the parts thereof so deranged as to permit loss of the contents.

The invention consists in the constructions and arrangement of parts and the formation of certain devices, all substantially as hereinafter fully described, and set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which our new and improved folding lunch or other box is illustrated, and in which- Figure l is a perspective view of t-he box as set up and in use. Fig. 2 is a central ver* tical crosssectional View of the box as iu its collapsed or folded-up position. Fig. 3 is a horizontal longitudinal sectional view of the box in its folded-up position, the plane of sec# tion being substantially on the line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional View of the box as set up for use. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the appliances which constitutes the support-ing and locking device for the folding bottom of the box.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the Views.

In the drawings,f5 and 7 represent the rectangular front and rear Walls of the box, and 6 represent the end walls, substantially hinge-connected at the vertical ends of the said front and rear walls, and each end is coustructed in the two half-sections gg, scored on the median vertical line g2 or otherwise rendered capable of assu mingtangular relations to each other, 4as shownin Fig.

l represents the box-top, hinge-connected to the rear wall and having the flap 2 provided with the eyeleted hole 3, through which engages the catch or clasp 4, which is provided at a suitable place on the exterior of the front wall.

The box is provided with any suitable handle or carrier-strap.

8 represents the botto1n,of rectangular form, the same being hinged, as indicated at a, to the rear wall 7 along a horizontal line a short distance above the bottom of the box.` The bottom when swung down into the horizontal position shown in Fig. 4 serves as the expander for the box, serving to keep it in its distended rectangular form and against being accidentally collapsed.

Lookin g devices are provided operating between the forward edge portion of the bottom S and the lower portion of the front wall of the box, the same being susceptible ot' detachment to render possible the folding up of the box after use. Describing the said locking device, which is preferably duplicated in detail, the bottom is provided with the stud or button 12, the shank and head of which project beyond the surface of the box-bottom, said button being secured to the bottom by riveting or in any other suitable manner. vOpposite the button the front wall ofthe-box has the eyeleted hole 10.

The detachable engagement device 9 consists of a single length of' wire the intermediate portion of which is bent into the elongated loop 13, while the extremities of the wire are continued in divergence, or fork-li ke, and have the extreme ends thereof oppositely outturned, as shown at 14 14.` The intermediate portions of the extremities 15 15 are bent or bowed, as indicatedA at 16, in planes angular to the plane comprising the loop and in which the greater portion of said extremities lie for` the purpose of stitfening and strength ening the said device 9, whereby it may resist the weight imposed thereon from above, and

thereby prevent sagging of the bottom, it being understood and shown in the drawings that the elongatedloop portion of the device has a sliding engagement on the stud-shank, while the extremities of the device opposite theloop are engaged through the respectively adjacent eyelet-hole 10, as as shown in Figs. l and 4.

In distending and setting up the box for l'OO use after the side and end walls have been spread to the rectangular form and the bottom 8 swung down into the horizontal position the device t) is by the fingers squeezed at the extremities, so that the end members 14 14 are so closely together and in line with each other as to have a combined lengt-h less than the length of the elongated eyclet-hole l0, and the said device is then bodily slid forward to bring the said end members 14 14 through the eyelethole, when the squeezing pressure is released and the extremities expand, whereby the engagement with the opposite end marginal portions of the hole is insu red, as shown in Fig. 1.

The location of the bottom-locking device is `shown as at the exterior ot the bottom, which is more ctmvenient for manipulation than it' located on the interior, and such location also insures that the entire space wit hin the box is left clear and unobstructed; but the location of the said device might be at the interior, and, again, the bottom might be hinged at the front. and have the locking device located at the rear, or the locking device might be arranged for operation between the end portions of the bottom and the end walls of the box, all withoutdeparting from this invention.

Vhen the box is to be knocked down and folded, the locking devices 9 are pinched and slid so that the outtnrned ends are disengaged from the hole 10 and the said devices are swungaway from the marginal part of the bottom or permitted of themselves to so swing,wh ich they will naturally do, and thereby when the box is folded up no parts of the said wire devices will protrude beyond the margins of the folded lunch-box.

Thebox may be made of millboard or paste board cloth-covered, and the hinging ot' the parts which have folding connections and relations the one with the other may be insured by the cloth which covers the pasteboard, or special tape hinges may be employed, or, again, the flexibility of the one part in relation to the other may be insured by scoring the millboard, reliance being had on the tenacity of the material or stock.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

1. In a folding lunch or other box, comprising front and rear sides and ends suitably hinged and adapted to be collapsed or folded together, and having the bottom hinge-connected to one of the sides, and adapted to be folded thereagainst and to be swung down across to the other side, and a detachable locking device operating between the marginal portion of the bottom, and a wall of the box adjacent which the bottom is swung, the

same constituting, in addition to a device for confining the bottom, also a supporting dcvice therefor.

2. In a folding lunch or other box of the character described having the bottom hingeconnected to onel of the box sides to be collapsed thereagainst.and swung therefrom into a horizontal position across tothe opposite box side, and having the box side opposite that at which the bottom is hinge-connected provided near its lower edge with a hole l0, of' a locking device provided on the hinged bottom adjacent its margin and having a sliding movement ou said bottom i'or engagement through, and disengagement from, said hole in the box side, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a folding lunch or other box of the character described, in which the bottom is hinge-connected to one of the box sides and is adapted to be swung from a. position against such side at right angles thereto to be brought marginally adjacent the other box side, and the latter having therethrough the hole 10, and the bottom having the headed stud or button 12, the locking and supporting device 9 having an elongated loop or eye 13, normally divergent.- extremities l5, 15, and thc outturned free ends 141-, 14, said elongated eye having a sliding engagement'. with the bottom, for the purpose set forth.

4. In a folding lunch or other Vbox of the character described, a side wall thereof having` the eyeleted holes 10, 10, and the hinged bottom having the headed studs or buttons 12, 12, combined with which are the devices 9, 9, each composed of a single length of wire, the middle portions of which are bent to form the elongated loop 13, and the extremities ot. which are divergent and have the ends 14, 14, ontturned in opposite directions, for the-pur poses set forth.

In a folding lunch or other box of the character described, a side wall thereof having the eyeleted holes 10, 10, and the hinged bott-om having the headed studs or buttons 12, 12, combined with which are the devices 9, 9, each composed of a single length of wire, the middle portions ot' which are bent to form the elongated loop 13, and the extremities 15, 15, of which are extended divergent substaln tially in the plane of the loop, and have the ends 14., 14, ontturned in opposite directions while port-ions of said extremities 15, 15, between the ends 14 and the loop have the bowed form 16, as shown.

Signed by us at Holyoke, Massachusetts, this 12th day of February, 1900.

JOHN J. WHITE. EDMUND F. VHITE. Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLows, M. A. CAMPBELL.

TIO 

